User Reviews

Appearance: poured a dark ruby color with no transparency.
Smell: winey characteristics with oak, dark fruits and raspberries
Taste: Flavors are heavy and rich in raspberries - very tart and juicy. It also has this vinous quality throughout. Its sour but its tart characteristics is far more noticeable. The aftertaste has a more cranberry juice flavor to it. Also finishes with notes of oak.
Mouthfeel: its thick and lush but not a lot of carbonation. Seems to be missing here.
Overall: Definitely I enjoyed this. But not sure how someone who has high standards for Oud Bruins would rate this.

Poured from the bottle into a tulip glass. Nice pop off the cork. No obvious bottle dating that I can detect.

A muddy and dark milk chocolate brown body color, with lots of tan pin head bubbles racing up the sides of the glass in solid streams. Head creation is a bit snapping sounding but manages not to dissolve. A solid light tan two finger head is produced, a bit of fizz sounding dissolve, but always stays a finger populated with a nice finger length top, fine bubbles, and a creamy smooth surface. Very interesting looking Bruin and a neat one.

Aroma is quite nice. Mild sensing tart cherry, a bit of vanilla and milky chocolate sweetness as well, but tartness is definitely up front. Aromas though are more subtle and slightly buried on the nose though. There's quite a nice bit of complexity, but it's a little hard to dig out some of the sensed flavors. Otherwise pretty solid.

Palate is bringing lots of love. Creamy mouthfeel with a lighter touch, but a nice warm tartness that is mellowed out with some mild bubbles that play well on the palate. Mid palate comes with a creamy vanilla and tangy fruit, more sensing towards berries in a way. Further milk chocolate comes with an almost milkshake like quality of taste and sweetness. Aftertaste is a bit jarring but still hand-able. Finishes a bit ashen like with a surprising slight astringent bitterness, but subsequent sips add and counter with more milky chocolate and sweetness that almost gives a fruited tangy chocolate cake quality.

A real nice take on an Oud Bruin, the barrel aging has done some real good compliments to this. I would love to have this again someday.

A: Pours a dark brown with a touch of ruby red around the edges. A one finger beige head forms with good retention and lace.
S: Tart, lactic dark cherries up front that are great. A bit of vinegar, and sweet malts. Simple, but everything is in perfect balance and so enjoyable.
T: Again the tart dark cherries are up front that are great. Then the vinegar character known for the style. Though not overbearing in any way. The malts come next. Sweet caramel, and lightly toasted malts. Again, simple, but really enjoyable and well defined.
M/O: A medium body with good, crisp carbonation. Smooth at the same time. This is really easy to drink, and an all around well done example of the style.

Everything is simple, to the point, well defined, and in balance here. Which is not always the case with this style. Often, it is to muddled, and overbearing (usually with the vinegar character). This hits all the marks and is really well made. Well done.

Poured into a Westy chalice a very nice grapey/brownish color, very nice carbonation, with a very nice thick/creamy one-finger off-white head, which leaves some nice islands and sticky lacing behind. The nose is malty, yeasty, with some nice cherries, grapes, figs, nice little tartness. The taste is very nice, malty, yeasty, with some nice tartness, cherries, grapes, figs. Medium body, ABV hidden very well, with a nice little dry finish. Overall, this is a pretty tasty brew, true to style. Recommended!

Poured from tap into sniffer, no head, light ring around the side. Can't really tell the color suffice it to say it is dark. No light coming thru. Getting a little cherry coming thru on the nose. Tasty beer. Getting a little tartness, some cherry, oak, vanilla coming thru. Not as much as some have mentioned. Sharp and refreshing mouthfeel, no trace of alcohol.

Appearance: Pours a dark brownish ruby with a moderate amount of bubbles. Big two finger tan head that settles into a thin creamy layer.

Smell: A sour and fruity aroma with a scent of fruits and lacto yeast. Brett and lacto yeast give a sour and acidic scent. Lots of fruit with hints of sour cherries, berries, apple, pear, and peach. Sweet scent of vanilla and brown sugar along with some oak. Dark fruit hints of raisin, fig, and prune. Toasted malt with hints of biscuit and cracker. A really good complex aroma.

Taste: Like it smells, a fruity and sour Bruin taste with notes of fruits and funky yeast. Upfront funky, sour, and tart flavors from lacto and brett yeast. Mix of fruit notes with some sour and tart cherries, berries, pear, apple, and peach. Also some dark fruit undertones of fig, raisin, and prune. Sweet taste of brown sugar and vanilla along with oak. Toasted malt with notes of biscuit, toast, and cracker. A very good taste.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with a fairly high level of carbonation. Tart, creamy, and pretty smooth.

Overall: A very good take on the Bruin style. Nice mix of yeast and fruit flavors.

M- The Achilles heel to this beer is the mouthfeel. Borders on watery at times when the flavors call for something thicker, stickier, richer. The tartness is nice but could also be upped a tad, but there's a nice balance of tart and sweet. 3.75

This beer is great but it could still be better. More mouthfeel. That's all I ask for.

served chilled from corked/caged bomber to tulip. fair warning: this bottle is a pain in the ass to open. I've opened plenty of corked and caged bottles but this thing was rough. if you aren't careful you'll have a mess on your hands.

A: cloudy (no floaters or anything) brown with a slight nod in the orange direction. thick head immediately after being poured, but dissipates quickly with low retention. impressive lacing. it's beautiful in it's own weird way.
S: first off, whoa. secondly, coming back into focus after initial shock, there's a basalmic vinegar hit right off the bat, followed closely by a sweet maltiness, and plenty of tart fruit (sour cherry/green apple) backed by oak.
T: again, whoa. this is violent, and great. plenty going on here. one could mistake the complexity for chaos, but I find it wonderful. the oak is well pronounced, with the malted sweetness engaging in a funky dance with the sweet and sour of the fruit (still cherry and maybe apple. apple cider vinegar? sounds weird but seriously, it's delicious)
F: medium body with decent carbonation.

Bottomline:
I find myself puckering my lips, but I'm not sure if it's from the sourness or the desire to kiss the dang bottle. it's weird. it's not as sour as it's other styled sisters tend to be, with the sweetness coaxing the sour down off it's potential soapbox. it's by no means a session beer in my opinion, but truly one of the most fascinating brews I've had in a while. it brings the funk. bring dancing shoes.

Warning - take care opening this bottle as the explosion of the cork could be dangerous

Appearance: After an explosion of the cork and a major degree of gushing, the head settles down on the cola brown liquid, leaving a smattering of lace behind

Smell: Lactic dark cherry and balsamic vinegar elements, with a hint of chocolate

Taste: With a hint of chocolate at the outset, the lactic sourness kicks in quickly, bringing sour dark cherry and balsamic vinegar elements; oak and a hint of vanilla arrive, after the swallow, with acetic sourness in the finish

Mouthfeel: Medium to full body with moderate to high carbonation; puckery

Overall: But for the carbonation issues, this is a good example of the style; not a lot of funk but it brings the other elements of an Oud Bruin to the table

Attractive dark amberish brown with persistent foam and lots of lacing. Smell is on the vinegary side with a little deep fruity funk. Sharp and sudsy with that fermented fruit vinegar going up the nose. The lactobacillus is doing its job and eradicated any trace of malty sweetness.

Acidic but foaming constantly in the mouth helps the sippability. A rather intense, bitter woody note lingers in the aftertaste. Light body. Overall this tastes like apple cider that has soured. None of the typical beery flavors of malt and certainly no hops.

For this style, drinkability is about average. It feels like the acidity is attacking my teeth, which is not my idea of fun. This style still tastes like a chemistry experiment to me. From the 750 ml bottle purchased for $14 in Denver.

Enjoyed out of a brown 750 mL cork & cage bottle with no obvious dating on the bottle. There is a Julian code-like number on the label, but I seem to be reading it wrong, because there aren't 500+ days in a year. I do, however, have a reasonably good idea that this bottle is from 2012. Poured into a Boulevard Smokestack tulip glass.

Appearance - Pretty active carbonation, with a careful pour still yielding a massive three-and-a-half finger head the color of light brown sugar. Pocking begins almost immediately, giving the tan bubbles the look of Lorraine Swiss. Where the foam meets the body, you can see the carbonation continuing to work away, making the line between the bubbles and liquid blurry with activity. The body is a coffee brown with some translucence, but the combination of massive head and some haziness makes it difficult for light to pass through.

Smell - Initially gives off a powerful waft of lacto and balsamic vinegar--so far so good. It reminds me a bit of other American takes on the Flanders Oud Bruin, with a bit of underlying malty sweetness to balance out the sourness. Notes of oxidized green apple and musty oak are also present.

Taste - Some of the lactic tartness from the nose is present, but more subdued than I expected. Instead of a puckering effect, there is really more of a funky, woody characteristic to it. Along side that mustiness are notes of apple cider vinegar and sour cherries, but faint. And beneath it all is a surprisingly aggressive malt sweetness in the background. It really cuts through and almost overpowers that wonderful tartness. The finish has dried leather and wet hay alongside the slight twinge of the lacto, which never completely fades.

Mouthfeel - Medium-bodied and moderate-to-low carbonation, in spite of the huge head. Maybe low carbonation isn't the right word, but it's not very prickly to the tongue.

Overall, a solid take on the style, but I can't say I'm devastated that Odell hasn't produced this in a couple years. They make a much better sour beer that is still in production, and while I'm glad to have tried this one, in my opinion it doesn't quite hold up to the best in style from American brewers.

Taste: Oak, vanilla, tart cherries, sour grapes and pepper. Great balance of malty sweetness, sour notes, and spiciness. I purposefully waited a year to drink this as initial impressions indicated that the yeasts and bacteria needed more time to do their work. This is still not quite a sour bomb, but that is not a bad thing as this is so nuanced and tasty.

Feel: Medium body with ample carbonation. Finish is dry and tart.

Overall: Great example of a Flemish Ale. I hope they brew this on a semi-regular basis, as they do with Friek.

Moderate lacto tartness. I think it was wise letting this bottle age for some time before drinking. Getting a lot of complexity. Tart fruit like cherries, green apples, and red grapes. Some barrel notes of vanilla and oak.

Feels lighter than the ABV would have me believe. Has an appropriate amount of carbonation to give life to the complex flavor.

I have not been a fan of Odell's beer that comes in the 750ml format. This one I certainly enjoyed much more than their other efforts. Too bad it was only made once and is not done yearly.

VERY VERY NICE.... i love the interpretation of the style... reminds me of a well crafted rodenbach or similar flanders... nice tartness with some oak which doesent overwhelm...great warming FX after ur taste buds and stomach settles..hardly can notice alcohol at all. dirty sour taste in a good way...Cork nearly took my eye out.... no overflow

Appearance: the cork popped pretty violently when opened, but the beer did not foam out, so that's good. Hue is a rich red-brown, quite dark, but with a very little amount of haze it would seem. Head pours several fingers of frothy tan foam which dissipate slowly into a nice, pillowy head. Very attractive.

Smell: sweet, ruby malt; a biting sourness that nevertheless fades into a more approachable candylike tartness; elements of wood with some vanilla notes thrown in. Wonderful.

Taste: wow, the light sweetness, vague woodiness and fruity tartness all make me think of fresh huckleberries. The end of the palate centers more on the wood, vanilla, even lightly bourbon-ey notes. Very tasty and with a nice dynamic experience that I always love in a beer. Kudos!

Mouthfeel: light body with a big, fluffy carbonation. This is a pretty strongly attenuated brew, so the creaminess has very little staying power. Still, it's mouth-filling and satisfying up front. Woo!

A: pours a dark brown with a slight scarlet hue with a dense and long lasting off white head that retains very well into a Duvel tulip
S: smells of sourness, sour cherry, and slight vanilla and oak
T: tastes of sour cherry and all sorts of sourness, a slight funk, hint of sweetness, a bit of vanilla and oak and a hint of chocolate maltyness. swallow is quite mellow with some nice oakyness on the finish with a bit more pleasant maltyness and a slight lingering sourness
M: medium in the mouth with slightly vigorous and quite apparent carb that is a bit prickly on the palate. good drying finish as well
O: delicious and delightful. great flavors, great sourness and a decent balance of other flavors. Highly recommended

Pours a dark brown color. One inch head of an off-tan color. Great retention and great lacing. Smells of cherry sourness, alcohol, sweet malt, slight pale malt, and slight oak. Fits the style of a Flander Oud Bruin. Mouth feel is sharp and crisp, with an average carbonation level. Tastes of slight liquor, alcohol, oak, cherry sourness, sweet malt, and slight malt. Overall, great appearance and blend; the body is pleasantly sour and the liquor flavors are not dominate.

Poured in snifter at brewery. Appearance is a dark brownish red with tan head. Heavy lacing left behind. Nose features tart and sweet qualities with notes of cherry, oak, red wine, and vinegar. Taste has mild tartness up front with a healthy dose of cherry and a bit of tartness at the back of the palate. Not super tart, but definitely some acid. Mouthfeel is light and has low carbonation for style. Overall, a nice and approachable oude bruin with a high amount of sweetness for the style.